Howdy, I have an interesting dilemma but first a little background. For seven years I had my woodshop in our one-car attached garage. It wasn't heated or cooled and not very tight. I live in the midwest with very cold winters and extreemly hot/humid summers. When it rained it would take on some water from under the doors and I would have standing water until I sopped it up. About twice a year I would put a coat of floor wax on my tablesaw, drill press, band saw, etc. and never, never had a problem with rust. Now, since a recent move, I have a metal detached two-car sized building. It has a concrete floor, 2x4 framing, and what looks to be galvanized, corregated steel siding and roof. No drywall, no insulation, just the steel between my tools and the outdoors. I used about 12 cans of spray foam insulation to cut down on the breez and did a lot of caulking, it's actually pretty tight now. However, my tools are rusting. For a couple of months I would go out every week or so and there would be a fine,even coat of rust on all my power tools (all my other tools are still packed for obvious reasons). Finally I waxed them all and covered them with cotton duck and that has kept them pretty clean but what do you folks think is happening here? Is there a chemical reaction with the galvanized steel? Is it condensation, like a glass of ice water sweating? Funny thing is, the building is good and dry. And it's been freakin' cold here for the past few months, very dry air. I'm stumped. We can't afford to tear it down and put up something nice for a few years yet so I'm going to put a few hundred bucks in it by covering the ceiling with plywood and framing up some interior walls with drywall. I'll make it all removable with screws so the materials can be re-used later. So what do you think?
-Mac